ISIS affiliated group linked to the murder of Ahmadi in Kyrgyzstan

Ahmadi Muslim Yunusjan Abdujalilov was murdered December 2015 in front of his home in the village of Kashkar Kyshtak in Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan. Police arrested six members of the Kyrgz branch of Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, a religious extremist movement affiliated with ISIS in Syria.

On the night of 22nd December 2015 unknown assailants shot Yunusjan while he was talking to his neighbor outside his house, He died from his injuries on way to Nariman district hospital. Yunusjan had converted to Islam Ahmadiyya in 2007 and had 3 daughters and 1 son. At the time of his death his youngest child was only 3 months old.

On Tuesday 25th December 2015 Police detained a group of six people, two of whom are citizens of Uzbekistan, and four – Kyrgyz. The attackers revealed to the Police that they killed the former teacher on the orders of their “Emir” of Syria. The Emir Sirozhidin Mukhtarov (nickname Abu Saloh) was a former deputy Imam of the village but around a year ago left Kyrgyzstan to join the fight in Syria. The attackers further said that that the Emir’s hostility towards Yunusjan was due to his affiliation with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

According to police, Denis Parpiev a resident of the Osh region confessed to the murder of 37-year-old resident of Kara-Suu. During an interview to one of the tv channels, Parpiev confessed to committing the crime.

“We wanted only to frighten him, but then I received an order that it should be eliminated. I could not refuse.”- he said.

Ulugbek Turdakhunov

He also confessed that on 18 September 2015, with other accomplices, he attacked another Ahmadi in the same village, Ulugbek Turdakhunov. “He survived but was severely beaten with iron rods and stabbed with a knife several times,” Ahmadis stated. His legs were broken.

The brother of the murdered Usupzhon Abduzhadilov said that his brother Yunusjan was very vocal against extremist and terrorist organizations.

Describing the night of the murder he said:

” That night I heard a loud bang, But I thought it was the children playing with firecrackers. When the shooting happened my brother was with a neighbor. But he managed to escape from the attackers. Now he is a witness in the case “

Another Ahmadi who did not want to be identified said:

“We are constantly receiving threats, but we try not to react aggressively. Earlier even some mosques have discussed the possibility of killing members of the Ahmadiyya community “,

According to some reports there are 100 members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the village Kashkar-Kyshtak and around a thousand in Kyrgyzstan.

Mother of Yusufjan, Tabakalhan Jorabayeva said that the perpetrators must be brought to a fair punishment.

“Children will ask where is their father. What will I tell them. He just recently had a baby boy. We now do not even know what to do next, “- she said.

The Ahmadiyya movement movement is disliked by the local Wahabis and Salafis who consider its followers heretics. An imam at the local mosque in the village declared Ahmadi as ” Kafir –Unbelievers“. The Imam said:

“Ahmadis are to be killed and you will receive a reward for each drop of their blood”.

Ashirali Vahidov, another member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is actively working against “Jihadi Recruitment” in the village Kashkar-Kyshtak, the same village where Yunusjan was killed.

“Some Mullahs like Chubak-Hajji Jalilov, who are trained in Arab countries are spreading radical ideology. We are witnesses to these things. For example, I decided to get my son to educated, and learn Arabic, for this I sent him to Syria in 2006. Later after meeting and recognizing the community “Ahmadiyya”, I realized the difference between the two. Because of this, after 8-9 months of training my son in Syria, I forced him to come back to Kyrgyzstan. They do not teach science to students there but just “Jihad”, and it is impossible for parents to get their children to to listen to them. The radicals train the youth to go to Syria, sell them dreams of paradise and then transform them into a zombies, only to be taken away.“

Chubak-Hajji Jalilov

Recently former Kyrgyz Grand Mufti Chubak-Hajji Jalilov came to Osh region and called for Jihad against the Ahmadiyya Muslims of Kashkar-Kyshtak village.

“At this time all the Muslims of the Kashkar-Kyshtak village are joining the ” Ahmadiyya ” community, Why are you going for Jihad in Syria? Do it there.” – he said.

An independent human rights defender has noted that “the authorities turn a blind eye to hate speeches on TV, other mass media, and mosques about Ahmadi Muslims and other vulnerable religious groups”. They also noted that, in addition to attacks by Muslim Board imams, the Ahmadis were refused state registration. “All of this created a tense situation and hatred against the Ahmadis.”

“There was an indirect link between a state ban on Ahmadis being registered, hatred promoted by state-backed Muslim Board imams and the murder.”

“The National Security Committee (NSC) secret police is using former Chief Mufti Chubak azhy Zhalilov [who resigned in July 2012 amid corruption allegations] and other well-known Kyrgyz Islamic figures, who openly speak to young people’s meetings against vulnerable religious groups.”

Osh Regional Police spokesperson Jenishbek Ashirbayev told the media

“There are two sides of the issue, one is the murder, and the other is the unregistered freedom of religion or belief of the Ahmadis”.

Asked why the authorities are seeking to punish the Ahmadis instead of investigating the murder, Ashirbayev reiterated that both the murder and the Ahmadi Community’s activity are being investigated.

On 10 July 2014 the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against two lower courts’ support of the State Commission for Religious Affairs’ (SCRA) refusal to give state registration to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Asel Bayastanova, the Ahmadis’ defence lawyer, told the media that “it means that Ahmadi Muslims cannot act like Ahmadi Muslims and organise meetings for worship or any other activity together“

Kyshtobayev of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said that he and his co-believers are thankful to the Interior Ministry that the suspects were caught. But, he added, “we are afraid for our and our family members’ safety because of these attacks”.

Rabwah Times is a Pakistan based Independent digital media publication with a strong focus on minority communities. Rabwah Times also provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Pakistani Diaspora in North America and around the World.